Many of the posts on Clay Lane are by well known writers such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Others are by less well known authors who have something no less important to say.
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Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) studied at St Paul’s School in London, and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating in 1653. He married Elizabeth St Michel (1640-1669) two years later, and the couple at first relied on the hospitality of Samuel’s cousin Sir Edward Montagu (later Earl of Sandwich). Sir Edward brought Samuel into Naval administration, and after Pepys had escorted Charles II home across the Channel to his Restoration in 1660 he was appointed Clerk of the Acts at the Navy Office, work in which he excelled. Promoted Secretary to the Navy in 1673, he also served as a magistrate and as MP for Castle Rising and later Harwich; but in 1679 Pepys was relieved of his Navy post and briefly remanded to the Tower on suspicion of Popery. He was reappointed in 1684 but retired in 1690 after more charges were laid, following the Glorious Revolution. Pepys is best known today for his diary, which he began on January 1st 1660 and kept up until May 31st, 1669, when his eyesight began to fail.
